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Questions & Answers about Вода слишком холодная.
Why is вода used without an article?
Russian has no articles (no words equivalent to “the” or “a”). You simply say вода to mean “water” or “the water” depending on context.
Why is вода in the nominative case?
Because вода is the subject of the sentence. In Russian, subjects appear in the nominative case.
Why isn’t there a verb like есть or “is”?
In the present tense, the copular verb быть (“to be”) is normally omitted. So instead of saying Вода есть слишком холодная, you simply say Вода слишком холодная.
Why is the adjective холодная in the feminine singular?
Adjectives in Russian agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case. Вода is feminine, singular, nominative, so the adjective takes the ending -ая to become холодная.
What part of speech is слишком, and what does it mean?
Слишком is an indeclinable adverb meaning “too” in the sense of “excessively” (i.e. more than desired).
Why does слишком come before холодная and not after?
Like most adverbs modifying adjectives in Russian, слишком precedes the adjective it intensifies. Putting it after (холодная слишком) sounds ungrammatical.
What’s the difference between слишком холодная and очень холодная?
- Очень холодная = “very cold” (strong degree, but not necessarily bad).
- Слишком холодная = “too cold” (excessive in a negative or unwanted way).
Can I reorder the words, e.g. слишком вода холодная or вода холодная слишком?
The neutral order is Вода слишком холодная (Subject–Adverb–Adjective). You can also say слишком холодная вода (Adverb–Adjective–Subject) to emphasize “too-cold water,” but other orders are awkward in everyday speech.
How do you pronounce Вода слишком холодная, and where are the stresses?
Pronunciation: [vɐˈda slʲɪˈʂkom xɐˈlodnəjə]
Stresses fall on the second syllable of each word: vo-DA, slish-KOM, ho-LO-dna-ya.
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